Imagine that you are a child with an amazing imagination. You spend the whole day reading, watching TV and lots of movies. That’s why your head is full of fantastic stories. You dream of writing your own novels or even movie scripts. What you do know is that you want to see these stories come to life. Now imagine that your father is the fifth richest man in the world, Megan Ellison is lucky for that..
Larry Ellison founded Oracle Corporation in the 1970s. A company specializing in database software. It eventually became the third largest software company in the world. That is why its founder’s assets amount to billions of dollars.. This is a remarkable feat considering that Larry Ellison was born in the Bronx, a poor borough of New York City. His father was gone and his mother didn’t want him, so he “gifted” him to his sister. He would then move to Chicago with his adoptive family and would not see his mother again until he was forty-eight years old.
Megan Ellison is the daughter of Larry Ellison and his third wife (now former) Barbara Booth. His enormous wealth allows him to maintain privacy, which is why we know little about his personal life and that he never gives interviews. He prefers to remain in the shadows, rarely attends premieres, and when he does, he does not like to present the film to the public. When he turned twenty-five, his father gave him an impressive sum of money. Some say it was $200 million. The most popular rumor is that he received $2 billion.. However, her representative claims that neither of the two figures is correct. What we do know is that after this point, Megan Ellison had enough money to make her mark in Hollywood.
Good taste that matters
Zero Dark Thirty is the most famous example. It took 45 million to make a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Although getting funding through a studio is difficult and time-consuming, Megan Ellison simply trusted Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, handing her a check for the required amount. Instead of allocating funds and going on vacation to the Hawaiian island bought by her father, Megan is directly involved in the production. That is, she is not only an executive producer, but also performs all the tasks corresponding to a film producer.
This is one of the keys to her success. Megan Ellison attended film school at the University of Southern California for a year. There he began financing small films with budgets ranging from $3 to $10 million. Without a doubt, any film student’s dream classmate.. There’s no doubt that Meghan does what she does for the love of film. His passion for the seventh art is his only motivation, as he is free of any economic ambitions.
He is responsible for financing Master ($40 million), one of the most recognized masterpieces of the 21st century. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and the legendary Philip Seymour Hoffman, it tells the story of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard through the birth of a deep friendship. Considered one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s best films.which says a lot considering the director’s impressive filmography.
The story goes that Paul Thomas Anderson was about to make a deal with Fox Searchlight for a budget of 18 million. Until lunch with Megan Ellison changed everything. The billionaire listened to Anderson’s presentation and without hesitation he offered him twice as much as he had agreed. He even supported his expensive artistic decision to record the film in 65mm format. The Master didn’t make back its budget at the box office, but that doesn’t matter to Megan, her goal is to fund great directors, and in this case, she achieved that.
The rest of their excellent catalog includes Grandmasters Wong Kar Wai (25 million), Phantom Thread Paul Thomas Anderson (35 million) True Grit Coen brothers (38 million), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs also the Coens (30 million), Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (5 million), American Hustle David O. Russell (40 million) and the most iconic of all: Her Spike Jonze (23 million). So it became the first woman to receive two Best Picture Oscar nominations in the same year. (TO Her And American Hustle), let’s remember that this award is for producers.
The return of Megan Ellison
After several critical and financial failures, including several feuds with the infamous Harvey Weinstein, Megan Ellison decided to take a break. He played a minor role in his production company Annapurna Pictures and has disappeared from the world map since 2019.
Now he seems to be back, saving Nimonaan LGBT-themed film that was rejected by Disney. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category.in which he faces stiff competition from Boy and heron from Studio Ghibli and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse from Sony Pictures.
In his absence, Hollywood is experiencing an alarming shortage of mid-budget films (15-40 million), as they are much less profitable than huge budget films. These are usually films that become pop culture icons.. There are endless examples such as: Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Mulholland Drive, American Beauty, Boogie Nights, Kill Bill, Magnolia, Birdman or ParasiteA24’s greatest hits and more.
Megan Ellison’s return could mean something needed amid the overdose of sequels, remakes and great films. blockbusters those we are used to: original films, ready to take risks, free from any mold.
Source: Hiper Textual
